A young woman had to have her hip replaced at the age of 16, after being injured in a car accident in Co Donegal in which five young people lost their lives, the High Court heard yesterday.
Martha McGill (20), Ardara, Co Donegal, said the accident had left her in pain and she was unable to keep up with her friends. Ms McGill was 14 at the time of the accident near Finntown, on the main Glenties to Letterkenny road, on August 13th, 1999.
The court heard that a car driven by David Armstrong (18) on the wrong side of the road somersaulted and hit the car in which Ms McGill and her cousins, members of the McNeilis family from Edergole, Ardara, were passengers.
Mr Armstrong died along with three of his teenage friends and fellow sixth-formers, all from Co Down. They were Nicholas Kirkwood (18), Ballygowan; Christopher Hanna (17), Downpatrick; and Christopher Sloan (17), Holywood. Nine-year-old Michael McNeilis, who was in the other car, also lost his life.
Shaun McNeilis (19), his brother Eamon (14), his mother Gráinne McNeilis, his aunt Margaret McGill, and two first cousins, Martha (20) and Briona McGill (21), who were all in the one car, are suing the owner of the other car, Ann Armstrong from Belfast, as a result of the accident. Yesterday, their counsel, Garrett Cooney said Martha McGill was a back seat passenger in the McNeilis car.
He said that of those injured, she was the most seriously affected. Her hip was dislocated and she was in a wheelchair for six weeks. She had a hip replacement, and has a scar down her thigh. Mr Cooney said her injuries had left her severely handicapped for the rest of her life.
The case continues before Mr Justice Michael Peart.